Feel bad that you missed some stuff at TIFF? Don’t worry — most of the major titles are already arriving in commercial release. “The Informant!” and “Jennifer’s Body” were just the first salvo. Check it out:
“The Boys Are Back”: Scott Hicks follows his oddly passable “No Reservations” with another tale of unexpected single parenthood; this one finds a suddenly widowed Clive Owen trying to raise his sons in Australia. Susan liked it a little more than Adam.
“Bright Star”: Jane Campion recovers from the horror of “In the Cut” with this more respectable study of the doomed love between John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Special Presentations, TIFF ’09. Jason was wowed; Susan, less so.
“Dead Snow”: Nazi zombies! Hidden treasure! Horny college students! But really, all you need to take away from this is “Nazi zombies”. Andrew and Kieran both deem it good enough, which is pretty much how I felt about it too.
“Delta“: Kornel Mundruczo’s heavily symbolic, utterly pointless tale of forbidden love may not have been the worst film I saw at Cannes last year, but it was certainly one of the least. Please don’t give it any money.
“Fame”: The remake! Jazz hands for everybody! Not screened at press time!
“It Might Get Loud”: Just to change things up, here’s a film from last year’s TIFF — Davis Guggenheim’s electric-guitar documentary, featuring Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page. Rad was mildly rocked; Adam, less so.
“Pandorum“: I don’t ask for much in movies about big, creepy spaceships — just that they be a little smarter than “Event Horizon”, really — and Christian Alvart’s tale of an amnesiac astronaut (Ben Foster) who wakes up aboard a ship of horrors is really pretty decent, though the ending stumbles badly. My NOW review should be up later today. UPDATE: There it is!
“Surrogates”: Y’know, the trailer didn’t lead me to expect very much, but I’m kind of intrigued by the notion of a movie where Bruce Willis is all glossy and sleek. Does that make me weird?
“Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day“: This one’s even more for the fans than the previous feature, though I’ll admit I did find Bubbles’ subplot oddly compelling. If there’s a Food Mountain for people, I want to go to there.
“What’s Your Raashee?”: Ashutosh Gowariker’s romantic comedy was one of TIFF ’09’s last galas — and it was over three hours long, so no one was able to catch the press screening. And now it’s opening in Toronto with virtually no warning — and no additional screening opportunities. Which sucks for everyone, really.